‘Just a few years ago, the audiovisual landscape at Liège Université was a disorganised mosaic,’ says, A/V technician, Arnaud Frederix. ‘We had up to 27 different brands across campus. It was really overwhelming.’
With too many brands involved, no standardisation and constant maintenance headaches, the university recently upgraded the sound infrastructure across 11 of its major venues, including the 1824-built Salle Académique (listed as an exceptional heritage site of Wallonia), and several major lecture halls and amphitheatres. The installation features L-Acoustics Syva, Soka, 5XT and X6i loudspeakers paired with LA2Xi and LA4X amplified controllers, chosen for their speech intelligibility, colinear array technology, and ability to integrate discreetly into heritage architecture.
Founded in 1817, Liège Université ranks among Belgium’s top three research universities, and serves more than 28,000 students with its main campus on Sart-Tilman hill, and additional campuses throughout Liège Province. But the fragmentation of its audio provision created operational inefficiencies, complicated maintenance and, most critically, compromising speech clarity for both lecturers and students. The solution wasn’t just about buying new equipment; it required building a dedicated A/V department, establishing clear standards and selecting partners who could deliver consistent performance across diverse spaces.
The university’s approach was comprehensive – in each upgraded venue, all legacy equipment was replaced to ensure full compatibility and consistent performance. ‘The intended approach was to make improvements wherever possible, while working with what was available, creating an intelligent system that shared resources where it could,’ says XLR Sales Manager, Alexandre Aretz.
The university established its new A/V department and assembled a team that included internal A/V staff, L-Acoustics Certified Provider XLR, and integrators ESI Informatique, Wave, Riva and Inytium, all working within the university’s public procurement framework.
L-Acoustics was chosen as the preferred brand for the most important venues. The 11 installations span key facilities including the heritage-listed Salle Académique, the Noppius amphitheatre, the Kurth and Wilmotte amphitheatres, De Méan auditorium, multiple lecture halls, and the main auditorium at the Gembloux campus.
Two technical requirements drove the L-Acoustics selection – intelligibility and aesthetics. Syva and Soka colinear arrays deliver highly controlled vertical directivity, ensuring even coverage across tiered seating while minimising ceiling and floor reflections that muddy speech. Their slim profiles blend into architectural spaces, an essential consideration in heritage venues where bulky systems would be visually intrusive.
‘We wanted to deliver a system that provided exceptional sound quality in compact and discreet formats, matching both the technical and aesthetic constraints we were working in,’ explains Aretz. ‘Deploying an aesthetically appealing solution was especially important in certain heritage spaces, like the Salle Académique and several of the amphitheatres.’
Deploying audio systems across multiple venues and campuses required precise modelling. The integration team used L-Acoustics Soundvision software to model each space, predict coverage patterns and optimise speaker placement. The 3D simulation allowed them to visualise how sound would behave in rooms with varied architectures and fine-tune configurations before installation.
‘Soundvision enabled us to carefully map the spaces we were working on, some of which were among the university’s most important and historic,’ says Aretz.
The Salle Académique and various halls received left and right Syva and Syva Low arrays, powered by LA2Xi amplified controllers. Syva’s colinear array design provides highly controlled vertical directivity for even sound coverage across tiered seating while minimising reflections. Its slim, elegant profile mounts flexibly - flown, ground-staked or wall-mounted – depending on venue requirements.
The amphitheatre at Liège Université’s Gembloux campus deployed Syva and Syva Low with six X6i for coverage above and beneath the balconies. Selected amphitheatres received Soka colinear arrays, with under-balcony and delay coverage from 5XT speakers. Across all 11 venues, the university installed a total of 15 LA2Xi and LA4X amplified controllers, ensuring consistent power and processing capabilities throughout the installation.
The results are measurable: complaints have disappeared, technical interventions are rare. Staff and students work in an environment that lets them focus entirely on teaching and learning. The systems have earned praise from on-site technicians, architects and the university’s academic board.
‘In an academic setting, speech clarity is absolutely critical,’ says Frederix. ‘The L-Acoustics loudspeakers ensure that information is transmitted clearly and precisely, even in acoustically challenging spaces. This level of audio quality directly supports our students’ learning experience.’
More: www.l-acoustics.com